The Kansas City Chiefs are heading into Week 8 as one of only two teams in the NFL with only a single loss on their record. After handling the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 7, the team is now set to play its third straight AFC West opponent, but not without some troubles brewing in the last few days.
Linebacker Nick Bolton had surgery on Tuesday. He’ll be back in Kansas City on Thursday. Justyn Ross was back at practice Wednesday after being arrested Monday and charged with domestic battery with no priors and criminal damage of less than $1,000
Despite their troubles, the Chiefs will have an upcoming Sunday afternoon contest against the Denver Broncos, their second meeting in three weeks.
“They’re coming off a big win against Green Bay where they played well,” head coach Andy Reid said. “We’ve got to make sure that we get our work done the next few days here before we head up there.”
As mentioned, the Broncos are coming off a 19-17 victory over Green Bay, which was Denver’s second win of the season and their first since Oct. 1. Despite playing the Chiefs just two weeks ago at Arrowhead, Reid is expecting more from Denver’s veteran head coach Sean Payton.
“He’s a veteran coach and he did that (adjustments) for a reason,” Reid said. “They made some adjustments on the defensive side in the last couple of games. They’ve changed up what they were doing before that, and that’s why they’ve had success with it.”
Over the last two games, Denver has one win and one loss, the loss being to Kansas City. The Broncos defense has held opponents to 19 and 17 points respectively. With some moving pieces on the defense, Denver is feeling more confident this time around against Kansas City.
However, the defense will still have to account for Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Kelce finished his last game with 12 catches for 179 yards and a touchdown. It was his fifth career game with 10-plus receptions and at least 150 receiving yards — no other tight end has four such games in their career.
“You know that they know who Trav is, and they had a plan there, so maybe you see a little bit more of that or whatever, but teams are taking and putting good players on Trav or doubling him and him and Pat, they’ve got a unique chemistry there.”
The Chiefs look to make three straight wins against an AFC West opponent. Kick-off is at 3:25 in Denver.
Bolton undergoes surgery
Chiefs’ linebacker Nick Bolton had surgery on his fractured wrist on Tuesday in Los Angeles after suffering an injury during Sunday’s victory against the Chargers. Head coach Andy Reid said Wednesday he was not sure whether Bolton would land on injured reserve or how many weeks he might miss. Reid said there was no need during the procedure for metal to be put into the wrist to support it. That could potentially help Bolton return to the gridiron faster for the defending Super Bowl champions this season.
